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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

It Was 64 years Ago Today

From the "life has funny convergences" department...

64 years ago, April 28, 1945, Mussolini was found and shot and then hanged. Crowds converged upon his and his lovers lifeless body and proceeded to take out their collective rage on them in a square in Milan.

64 years later, in a totally unrelated event the IPhone now has a Gambero Rosso Application.

These two images were sent to me from different people and places and they arrived in my in-box at the same time. Funny how things converge...

When I get older, losing my hair,Many years from now,Will you still be sending me a ValentineBirthday greetings, bottle of wine?

If I'd been out till quarter to threeWould you lock the door?Will you still need me, will you still feed me,When I'm sixty-four?

3 comments:

Fascinating, as usual, Alfonso. My son, James, turned 40 on the 28th. I am also happy to say that I turned 64 a couple of months ago and, at least, they are still feeding me. Maybe even still needing me, although the jury still seems to be out on that one.

In one of the more bizarre convergences of my life, a number of years ago I was asked to write a reader's report and translate a sample chapter of Vittorio Mussolini's memoir (the Duce's son). I had mixed feelings about it but it also seemed like a fascinating (if macabre) project. So I agreed and was ultimately offered the job by the editor, only to be vetoed by Mussolini himself (the son). The gruesome image that you posted of Piazza Loreto (I've been to a dinner party, btw, in an apartment that looks out on to that spot) transcends the iconic in Italian culture. V. Mussolini talks about it in length in his memoir and chastises the Italian people for the event itself (which was posed, btw, since the Duce was killed when he was discovered near Lake Garda, if I'm not mistaken) and for the fact — the gesture, the act — that it was photographed. The Mussolini family and the post-war incarnations of the fascist party have always pointed to the photo as an act of barbarism, an example of the depth of humankind's evil when not abated (ironic no?). It's remarkable to think that the Duce is still such a revered figure in Italy and that Fini's neo-fascist party (the descendant of the Duce's party) is now fully incorporated — 64 years later — into mainstream Italian politics. I'll never know why Vittorio vetoed me but I can imagine why.

About Me

Writing about Italian wine and culture. Moving between Italy and America. Passionate about both of my countries. Fed by the energy of Italy, California and Texas. Drawn to the open spaces of America and the small vineyards of Italy.
@italianwineguy
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